Cult of Mac

Need a new iPhone? Are you currently… an Android user? (What are you doing here? Oh, right! Reevaluating your smartphone choices!) It just so happens right now is a great time to be in the market for a smartphone because Cult of Mac has you covered with these deals on refurbished iPhones. All of these iPhones are CDMA/GSM unlocked so perfect for all major U.S. carriers. Lastly, these refurbished iPhones are in “Grade A” condition with up to three minor scratches.

Deleting your Facebook account isn’t enough to stop some apps from sending deeply personal information about you to the social network.

The Wall Street Journal found a wide range of apps that send personal information to Facebook even if you don’t have an account. Health apps and real estate apps were discovered sending a lot of information to Facebook and the type of data might surprise you.

Next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, LG looks set to unveil a revolutionary new smartphone with gesture controls. In a brief teaser video, the South Korean tech giant boldly promises the end of multi-touch — the way we’ve all been interacting with smartphones ever since the iPhone launched in 2007.

A gesture sensor could pick up hand movements in front of the device, rather than requiring physical interaction with the screen itself. So, for example, you could point at a button from a distance, rather than actually needing to tap the glass screen to select it.

In reality, I doubt that gestures will replace multi-touch anytime soon. However, I do think Apple could make intelligent use of this new tech. It could replace 3D Touch (which Apple looks set to scrap), and it could serve as a clever way to finally bring multi-touch to the Mac.

The ink on all the press Samsung is getting for its new line of Galaxy smartphones is barely dry, but the camera on the S10+ already has received top marks from testing lab DxOMark.

One of five new Galaxy phones launched this week, the S10+ tied two Huawei handsets as the best-rated smartphones for mobile photographers.

Samsung showed off its foldable smartphone this week, and while it’s clearly a first-generation model, it’s got a lot of people excited. Foldable phones have the potential to combine our phones and tablets in a way that offers a big display and a pocket-size form factor, all in one.

What would a foldable iPhone look like? With help from industrial designer Roy Gilsing, the folks over at Foldable.News have taken a swing at showing us.

Apple’s been around for more than 40 years. However, it wasn’t until surprisingly recently that it became the company we know today; a surefire lock for titles like the world’s most admired company.

An astonishing new data visualization highlights this. Using Interbrand’s “brand value” as its metric, it shows just dominant Apple has been in the last several years. And how surprisingly late it entered the list of world’s most valuable brands.

Samsung has beaten Apple to the foldable smartphone, and it could have a sneaky trick up its sleeve to prevent the iPhone-maker from catching up quickly.

Analysts expect Samsung to hold off on selling its Infinity Flex displays to delay a foldable iPhone. It’s unlikely Apple would be able to source flexible OLED displays elsewhere.

The internet represents the some of the most exciting opportunities for business that the world has seen in decades. So whether you want to sell something or just be more effective in reaching an audience, it’s worth knowing the ropes.

This week on The CultCast: a totally new 16” MacBook Pro; a new 6K cinema display; new Mac Pro; new AirPods; new iPads and iPhones; even a new iPod Touch… according to a new report, Apple’s about to make huge updates to their ENTIRE product line. This could be one of the best hardware releases in years.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain..

The Apple Watch’s EKG heart rate monitor has possibly saved the life of yet another person.

According to a new report, the Apple Watch belonging to a man in Bothell, Washington was used to diagnose atrial fibrillation. Sometimes shortened to “a-fib” or “AF,” this refers to an irregular, fast heartbeat. It even won over skeptical medics in the process, proving that does apple watch detect heart attack.

Apple pushed boundaries with last year’s iPhone’s A12 Bionic chip. However, it seems that the company’s 2020-era iPhones is going to blow away Apple’s previous 7-nanometer A12 — with what could turn out to be the mobile world’s first 5-nanometer chip.

If true, this would be another massive leap in miniaturization. And another feather in the cap of manufacturer TSMC.

Growing criticism from professional players and the incredible rise of Apex Legends has led some to believe that Fortnite may be dying out. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The hit battle royale game broke two new records for concurrent players this month, thanks in part to its monumental in-game Marshmello concert.

Tim Cook will give this year’s commencement address for graduating students at Stanford University.

This is same school where Cook’s predecessor, Steve Jobs, gave one of the most memorable commencement addresses in history in 2005. No pressure, Tim!

Yes, the radio.

Some phones, and some old iPods — the clip-on Nano, for example — have real radio receivers built in. They can pick up over-the-air AM and FM waves, and play them, just like you were in a car from the olden days. The iPhone and iPad, though, have never had working radio tuners. But thanks to internet streaming, it doesn’t matter. You can listen to live radio anywhere, using an app.

Today we’ll see one super-simple app that works a lot like an old radio, and another app that I don’t really like, but that does pretty much anything you could want in a radio-streaming app.

Information supposedly leaking out of the design team for the next Mac Pro claims this desktop computer will totally and completely fulfil Apple’s promise to make it modular . Rather than a single unit it will allegedly consist of stackable components that can be easily swapped in and out as needed.

But not all the news is good. Apple promised that its next professional-grade desktop Mac would be out this year, but this unconfirmed report indicates it might not debut until 2020.

The 5G future is finally going to start rolling out to Verizon customers later this year, but only if you live in one of the 30 cities tapped to get the super-fast mobile data speeds.

During a call with investors this morning, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg revealed that Verizon’s deployment of 5G technology is nearly ready. And this time, it’s going to be real 5G.

After messing around with the amazing Hyperspektiv app earlier this week, I thought it would be a great way to make music videos. Hyperspektiv glitches your videos and Live Photos, giving them incredible special effects. All you need to do is arrange the resulting clips, and add music.

You can do this in any video-editing app on your iPhone or iPad — iMovie for instance. But that requires lot of manual work to get the music synced up with the video clips. After a little searching, I found Quik, a video app from GoPro. It’s not ideal — it likes to upload your videos to its servers with little warning — but it also has one essential feature: Quik analyses any music you add, and automatically syncs the video clips to the beat.

Moving macOS computers from Intel processors to ones Apple has created itself seems to be on schedule.  At least, that’s what Intel thinks, according to a recent report.

This is likely a part of bringing all the software that runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac together.

Apple has joined forces with Alipay in an effort to boost iPhone sales in China.

iPhone fans can now bag one of the company’s latest handsets with up to two years of interest-free finance. The loan allows customers to swap the costly upfront fee for much more affordable monthly payments. It’s available on purchases of 4,000 yuan (approx. $595) or more.

Instead of just firing up that ambient music playlists again today, why not try the PolyPhase app? It’s a “generative sequencer,” which is an accurate but uninteresting way of describing its purpose: to create great music, automatically.

PolyPhase is intended to be used as a creative tool. A music can manipulate its settings, and listen until she hears something worth saving and turning into a song. But the app is equally good as an ambient soundtrack generator. One that will never stop. Ever.

Apple’s long-rumored self-driving car project might not churn out a car at all. Instead, it might just be an electric minibus.

According to a sketchy new rumor, Apple engineers have supposedly created a new minibus, which should be able to drive autonomously, if it ever hits the road.

Xiaomi, a Chinese brand considered one of the most blatant Apple copycats in the smartphone industry, may have a device that distinguishes itself from its muse the iPhone.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 scored higher marks for its camera system than the iPhone XS Max, according to the results of comprehensive tests released this week by DxOMark.

Apple built its world-dominating status by being brave. Not only did it create hit products, but it never worried about “cannibalizing” existing products to make way for the future.

Will that same strategy hold true at a time when Apple’s dominance is faltering? If the company is going to thrive through the next wave of tech, it’s going to take a whole lot of Dutch Cupertino courage.

Gene Levoff, former senior director of corporate law and corporate secretary at Apple, has been released on a $500,000 bond after pleading not guilty to charges of insider trading.

Levoff, who formerly prevented Apple employees from insider trading, is accused of using nonpublic information to buy and sell tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Apple stock. He was fired by Apple last September, two months after being placed on leave.

Apple and Goldman Sachs are teaming up to create a joint credit card, according to a new report. The card may offer savings to Apple customers, in addition to making it easier for them to keep tabs on spending.

The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple be using the MasterCard payment network for its endeavor. It is rumored to be rolling out as soon as this spring.